With so many wonderful literary events at Butler and the surrounding areas, there’s no excuse to stay inside!
FEBRUARY EVENTS AT BUTLER
1st – Summer Registration Begins
Butler University will be offering summer courses in screenwriting with visiting professor Alix Lambert, story structure with Dan Barden, and a summer intensive workshop with visiting poet Daisy Fried. Find more details here or email Mindy at mdunn1@butler.edu.
5th- Poetry Lunch Hour, 12:00 at the ECCW
The MFA program will be resuming its Poetry Lunch Hour program on Thursday, Feb 5th with a discussion of selected poems by 
upcoming visiting writer Maurice Manning. Selections will be from The Gone and Going Away and The Common Man. Purchase of the books is not required. RSVP to Mindy Dunn at mdunn1@butler.edu. Lunch will be provided for all who RSVP, and all Butler faculty, staff and students are invited and welcome. Poetry readers of all levels and types welcome- we hope to see a variety of poetry lovers from across the University!
5th – Michele Wood, 4:00-6:00 in Irwin Library
Butler libraries is hosting a signing with Michele Wood. Wood, an Indianapolis native, is a painter, illustrator and designer. She won the American Book Award for Going Back Home and the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for I See the Rhythm.
10th – Maurice Manning, 7:30 in Clowes Memorial Hall Krannert Room
The Pulitzer Prize finalist will kick off Butler University’s spring 2015 Vivian S. Delbrook Visiting Writers Series. Manning has published five volumes of poetry including Lawrence Booth’s Book of Visions(2001) which was chosen for the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award. Manning has received fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and the Guggenheim Foundation. He is a Professor of English at Transylvania University.
10th – Maurice Manning Q & A, 12:00-1:00 in ECCW
Join the visiting poet in an intimate setting for a casual conversation at Butler’s Efroymson Center for Creative Writing. This event is free and open to the public.
22nd – Dialogue Book Club, 7PM at Moe & Johnny’s
The MFA student run group, Dialogue, will be discussing Octavia Butler’s Kindred and likely many other things at this casual social gathering.
23rd – NoViolet Q & A, 9:35-10:50 in the ECCW
The award winning fiction writer will be answering questions with students and the public. This event is free and open to all.
23rd- NoViolet Bulawayo Reading, 7:30 in the Reilly Room
NoViolet Bulawayo is the author of We Need New Names (May 2013) which has been recognized with many awards including theLA Times Book Prize Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, the Pen/Hemingway Award, the Etisalat Prize for Literature, and was selected to the New York Times Notable Books of 2013 list, the Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers list, and others.
28th – Saturdays@3, 3:30 at the ECCW
Hilene will be hosting the next Saturdays@3 on February 21 at the Efroymson Center for Creative Writing. Please note the start time will be three THIRTY (3:30pm)! This MFA social is an ideal time for faculty, students and alumni to reconnect and discuss what they’ve been reading and writing. Light snacks will be served. Please send Hilene an RSVP email.
LITERARY EVENTS AROUND INDY
Best-selling novelist Khaled Hosseinei (Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and And the Mountains Echoed) will present the 38th annual Marian McFadden Memorial Lecture on Friday, March 6th at 7 p.m. at Clowes Memorial Hall of Butler University. Free tickets are available, while they last, beginning February 2nd online at Ticketmaster.com or in person at the Clowes Memorial Hall box office.
5th- Katie Coyle, 7:30 at the University of Indianapolis
San Francisco-based Katie Coyle, whose debut novel, Vivian Apple at the End of the World, came out Jan. 2015, will be reading and signing.
8th- Lucy Arlington, 2:00-4:00 at Barnes and Noble
The author of The New York Times bestselling Novel Idea Mysteries will be at Barnes and Noble River Crossing to chat and sign copies of her latest title in the mystery series.
The public will have an opportunity to meet eighteen local prominent African American artists and enjoy an evening of cultural entertainment during a special Valentine’s Day “Meet the Artists Gala Reception” on Saturday, February 14 from 5 – 10 p.m. at Central Library. This free event will feature special activities for children as well as performances and presentations from the Urban Vibes African Drum Troupe; the Brian Reeves & Heart Gospel Choir; spoken word artists Ebonye Potter, Tammy Burrus and Tony Styxx; and the Bullet Proof Band. The “Fashion Passion” Fashion Show will be coordinated by Alpha Blackburn.
A number of local authors also will be on hand to sell and sign copies of their books, including Sonny Bates (The Creole Affair); Dr. Stanley Warren (Crispus Attucks High School: Hail to the Green, Hail to the Gold); Faith McKinney (Schmingling); Cherlisa M. Richardson (Summer Rain); Rosemary Featherstone Turentine (Straight Talk “Unchained”); Theresa Washington (All I Got Left); and Jonathan Thompson (Together We Stand). The evening also will feature a special tribute to Indianapolis poet Mari Evans.
With Lewis Black, Jim Shella, Dan Wakefield, Michael Shelton, and more
Dinner, a keynote performance by comedian Lewis Black, and a night of celebration are part of the 6th annual “Night of Vonnegut” gala for the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library. Author Dan Wakefield will present the Kurt Vonnegut Writing Award and the Jane Cox Vonnegut Writing Award to two students from Shortridge High School, the school that houses Butler’s Writing in the Schools.
Nothing makes a house a home like a pet, and now the home of Butler’s MFA creative writing program has its own four legged friend. Program director Hilene Flanzbaum adopted Millie early this school year, and the four year old standard poodle quickly became a member of the MFA community.
